Celebrating Captain George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver on the Sunshine Coast

The year 2007 marked the 250th anniversary of George Vancouver's birth, the British navigator after whom the City of Vancouver is named. In 1792, Vancouver explored the Sunshine Coast between Howe Sound and Jervis Inlet in two small boats. Although Vancouver was preceded in 1791 by Spanish explorer Jose Narvaez who also mapped Georgia Strait, Vancouver's survey was more detailed and complete.

The Seaman and his Ships

George Vancouver was born at King's Lynn, Norfolk, England on 22 June 1757. As a teenager, Vancouver sailed with Captain James Cook on his ill-fated voyage to Hawaii where Cook was tragically killed. At age 33, Vancouver was selected by the British Admiralty to lead an expedition consisting of two well-equipped vessels, the HMS Discovery, a newly built sloop of war (a corvette), and the tender HMS Chatham (a brig) with compliments of 100 and 45 men respectively. Lieutenant William R. Broughton was in charge of the Chatham.

The Expedition

The expedition had a dual purpose. Vancouver was instructed to implement the terms of the treaty between England and Spain that restored the property at Nootka on Vancouver Island back to England. The other purpose of the expedition was the continuing search for the supposed Northwest Passage.

Setting Sail

Vancouver's expedition left England on April 1, 1791 and after surveys in Australia and stops in Tahiti and Hawaii reached the North American coast north of San Francisco in April 1792. They entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca by April 29 and then reached Birch Bay on June 11 (near present Bellingham, Washington State) where Vancouver established an observatory to begin the survey of Georgia Strait and Puget Sound.

The Survey

On June 12, the survey headed north from Birch Bay in the boats, Vancouver in the Discovery's 25-foot long pinnace (cutter) and Lieutenant Peter Puget and officer Thomas Manby in the Chatham's 22-foot long launch. The boats were provisioned with a week's supply of food and about 30 men. Manby in his journal wrote:

"Armed and victualled as usual, to pursue an extensive channel we could plainly discern run in a northern direction, its breadth in many places being six miles, and like all other parts of the straits, unfathomable unless close in with the shore, bounded on each side by an impenetrable forest with distant mountains in view, buried in snow and clouds...In this expedition we found termination of three extensive branches and carried on a comutination of angles for 150 miles distance from the ship."

A Northwest Passage

Rounding Point Roberts, the boats passed the mouth of the Fraser River but, surprisingly, they did not notice it. They did, however, view the main expanse of Georgia Strait which made them wonder if this could be the Northwest Passage.

"This prospect," Puget wrote, "was truly flattering, as we now have hopes of finding a passage through, instead of being obligated to return to Sea by Cape Flattery [the entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca]."

From Burrard Inlet where the City of Vancouver was grown, Vancouver and Puget continued up the continental shore, exploring first Howe Sound and then what is now the Sunshine Coast north to Jervis Inlet. Vancouver's exploration provides us with the first detailed description of the Sunshine Coast.

They also gave mention of native peoples along the Sunshine Coast, the ancestors of the present Halkomelem, Squamish, and Sechelt First Nations. Manby recounts: "We met occasionally with small parties of Indians, either hunting or fishing. They avoided us as much as possible and seldom came to us. The few that we prevailed on to come along side bartered their fish and fowl for copper and buttons in preference to every other thing. From the canoe we procured a very large sturgeon they had just speared."

Howe Sound and the Sunshine Coast

After reaching Point Atkinson they entered Howe Sound, which Vancouver named after Admiral Earl Howe. He also named Anvil Island because of its distinctive shape. On June 15 about 9 o'clock in the evening they landed for the night "near the west point of entrance into the sound," which Vancouver named Gower Point (misnamed Pt. Gore on his chart). A cairn commemorating the place where they possible camped is located at Chaster Park Beach near Gibsons. On four o'clock on the morning of the 16th, they resumed their course northwestward.

"This part of the coast is of more moderate height for some distance inland, and it frequently jets out into low sandy projecting points. The country in general produces forest trees in great abundance, of some variety and magnitude; the pine* is the most common, and the woods are little encumbered with bushes or trees of inferior growth. We continued in this line about five leagues* along the coast, passing some rocks and rocky islets, until we arrived at the north point of an island about two leagues in circuit, with another about half that size to the westward of it, and a smaller island between them" [Thormanby islands].

[*Pine is a general term for all types of coniferous trees. The main trees Vancouver would have noticed are Douglas fir, coastal hemlock, and western red cedar].

[*A league is about 3.5 miles or 5.5 kilometres].

"The track we thus pursued had not the appearance of the main branch of the gulf, but of a channel between the continent and that land [Texada Island]." After dark on the night of June 16th they found shelter "in a very dreary uncomfortable cove near the south point of an island," now called Beaver Island (Francis Peninsula), south of the entrance to Agamemnon Channel.

Turning Back

Jervis Inlet, nearly 50 miles in length, was one of the narrow waterways Vancouver was to encounter that he thought would provide the long-sought passage through the continent. This proved a disappointment, and they returned south. Manby, in the launch, recounts: "On the ninth day of this cruise, our provisions being exhausted, we were necessitated to turn about without finding a conclusion to the northern channel, Capt. V. intending to bring the vessels to the most distant part we had traced the continent to."

On the return voyage back to Birch Bay, the two boats unfortunately became separated in the dark. Manby continues, "The first night of our return homeward I was following the pinnace with the launch. In the dark we parted company and did not again meet until we joined the ship in a deplorable state. I remained for three days without a thing to eat but what my gun afforded, and destitute of compass to regain my way to the Discovery. My boat's crew suffered every hardship, fatigue and hunger could inflict in a small cove [where] I passed the night. [It was a cove] that abounded with muscles"*.

[*Manby and his men became very ill from eating the mussels. The ailment caused by a microscopic algae is known as Shellfish Poisoning, otherwise known as "Red Tide," a common occurence in June along the Sunshine Coast. It can be fatal; Manby used a diarretic of warm water as an antidote].

Meeting the Spanish

Then, on June 22 at Point Grey, Vancouver discovered two Spanish vessels (a brig and schooner), the Sutil and the Mexicana, anchored there, manned respectively by Donisio Alcala Galiano and Cayetano Valdes y Florez. Their schooners were identical in size, just over 50 feet long, each with 17 crew members and two officers. The location of the encounter between Vancouver and the Spanish captains is now called Spanish Banks.

A year earlier, in 1791, the Spanish had partially explored Georgia Strait and had named various places such as Brazo del Carmelo (Howe Sound) and Canal del Rosario (Georgia Strait). A few Spanish names survive such as Texada Island but the name Rosario is now confined to a strait through the San Juan Islands. But Vancouver ignored most of the Spanish names. Georgia Strait ne hamed after King George III of England. Jervis Channel was named in honour of Admiral Sir John Jervis.

Vancouver's Legacy

Vancouver's survey of over 300 miles of Georgia Strait was published the same year of his death in 1798 in "A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World." His maps were still in use into the early 20th century.

When Vancouver and Puget returned to the Discovery and Chatham at Birch Bay they quickly dismantled their camp and set out northward with the ships. They stopped at Point Grey again to meet with the Spaniards who came on board. They agreed to help each other and share survey information. The Spanish ships then accompanied the Discovery and Chatham..."following ourmotions and anchored with us in the evening" (probably near Pender Harbour, the scene of a contemporary painting by Harold Wyllie). Unfortunately the smaller Sutil and Mexicana could not keep up with the British ships. After three weeks the British and Spanish ships parted company.

Vancouver's complete survey from California to Alaska was an incredible feat.

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Acknowledgements:

Thanks to Gary Little, of Sechelt, for his input in historical research for the museum's display and the loan of Vancouver memorabilia. See Little's interactive online map detailing Vancouver's survey along the Sunshine Coast here.